


And so we ended up together

by slowroad



Category: Suits (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-19
Updated: 2016-04-19
Packaged: 2018-06-03 05:42:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6598990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slowroad/pseuds/slowroad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mike and Harvey decide to come out with their relationship at the Pearson-Specter-Litt annual Christmas party.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And so we ended up together

It was the annual Pearson-Specter-Litt Christmas party and Mike was, as usual, attending alone. He saw Rachel and Kyle as soon as he walked into the banquet hall at the Chilton. They were standing together and talking softly. They looked good together. They'd been together for six months now and Rachel seemed to be happy, so Mike was glad that things had worked out for her. And that despite their failure of a relationship, he and Rachel had managed to stay good friends. 

Rachel saw him and smiled. He was about to go over to her when he was accosted by Louis and his lady friend…that woman from Harvard, whatever her name was.

“What? No date again? Mike, this is pathetic,” Louis said.

“Leave it, Louis,” Mike said.

“Seriously, it’s been two years and you’re still not over Rachel? How did you manage to lose her to Kyle anyway?”

“I didn’t lose her, Louis. Things just didn’t work out between us, that’s all.”

“Hmmm…but that still doesn’t explain why you don’t have a date for the second year in a row.”

Mike didn’t know what to say to that. He couldn’t possibly tell the truth, so he just shrugged.

“Leave the poor boy alone, Louis,” the lady from Harvard said.

Mike smiled gratefully at her and slipped away. He ran into Donna, almost immediately.

“Looking good, puppy,” she said.

“You too, my love. You look gorgeous,” he said.

“Sweet,” she said. “Now come with me so I can introduce you to my boyfriend.”

“Ah! The elusive Mr Zeigler. I can't wait to meet him."

Donna led him away and Mike finally got to meet Martin Zeigler, the man that Donna had been gushing about for weeks now. Martin turned out to be every bit as smart and funny as Donna had said. 

It was a while before he finally made his way to Rachel and Kyle.

“Where have you been?” Rachel demanded.

“First Louis, then Donna, then Jessica and then Harold who was in a bit of a panic and needed calming down…”

“So where’s your date?” Kyle said.

He knew perfectly well that Mike was alone tonight, but he still had to ask. He was a real douche.

Rachel frowned at her boyfriend and tried to change the subject. “Well, everyone seems to be here, except Harvey…oh there he is.”

Mike turned and he saw Harvey walk into the banquet hall…alone. Harvey looked around, he saw Mike and he smiled. Mike smiled back, trying to calm his heart as he did so. Harvey looked amazing. He always looked amazing, but Harvey Specter in a tux was a sight to behold.

“That man certainly knows how to make an entrance,” Rachel said.

Harvey was walking around, shaking hands, greeting everyone. Louis came all the way from the other side of the room, probably to rib him about the fact that Harvey didn’t seem to have a date. Mike rolled his eyes. Louis would never learn.

“Good entrance, but no date. That’s sort of pathetic isn’t it?”

And it seemed that Kyle never did either.

“What’s up with both of you anyway?” he continued. “Harvey must be really off his game.”

“Kyle will you stop?” Rachel said, though she clearly wasn’t as annoyed as she was pretending to be.

 “What?’ Kyle said. “Harvey always shows up at these things with the most beautiful woman in the room. He even brought an actress once.”

“Maybe he wasn’t in the mood for company tonight,” Mike said as mildly as he could manage.

“Bad move,” Kyle said, shaking his head.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, he’s the one who’s always saying that it is important to make the right impression. And…it’s as important to look successful as it is to be successful. Not having a date at the annual Christmas party…it does not look good. It does not make him look successful.”

Mike rolled his eyes.

“His words,” Kyle said.

Mike turned around and saw Harvey approaching him, with a smug grin on his face.

“Well, he's coming over, so maybe you should share your insights with him,” Mike said, grinning when Kyle went a bit pale. 

Harvey came over and greeted them all. Then he turned to face Mike and looked him up and down, very deliberately.

Mike tried hard not to blush, but it was difficult.  

“Gorgeous,” Harvey said. “Rene has completely outdone himself. You look absolutely fabulous.”

“So do you,” Mike said.

He couldn’t help smiling. When they’d agreed to come out with their relationship at the Christmas party, he’d wondered how they were going about it. “Leave it to me,” Harvey had said. And well, here they were. Rachel was staring curiously between them. Kyle was frowning like he was trying to figure out what was going on. They could just have come out and told them, but no, Harvey had to flirt, he had to keep people guessing. Well, Mike had never yet been able to say no to Harvey, so fine, he would follow Harvey’s lead and let him have his fun.

 “Rachel, Kyle, I’m sorry to have to break this up, but I’m going to have to borrow Mike for a while,” Harvey said and then he held out his hand.

Mike took it and they walked away hand in hand leaving Rachel looking like she was going to burst if someone didn’t clue her in soon.

“Harvey, was that really necessary?”

“No, but it was fun. Did you see Kyle’s face?”

“Yes. He looks completely flummoxed.”

“Good.”

“Harvey…”

“What? He’s a douche,” Harvey said and then he stopped and turned to look at Mike. He put his free hand on Mike’s cheek and just held on for a moment. “I’m not going to deny that I’m having fun messing with our colleagues, but honestly, I’m just glad we decided to tell everyone.”

“Me too.”

“I wanted to keep it quiet in the beginning, but it started to wear on me. It’s hard to be around you so much and not even get to hold your hand,” Harvey said in that incredibly direct way of his.

“That is so sweet,” Mike said. “I can’t believe you think you’re not romantic.”

“I’m not.”

“Yeah? Well in that case, you’re the most unintentionally romantic person I know.”

Harvey smiled. It was that completely honest, no barriers of any kind, smile that he reserved for Mike and Mike, as always, felt very privileged to see it.

“Only for you, Mike. Only for you,” Harvey said. He still hadn’t let go of Mike’s hand. They were standing in the middle of the room and they were clearly visible to everyone and a few people were starting to stare, Jessica among them. She had been talking to a couple of the other senior partners until she saw them. Mike saw her excuse herself and walk towards them.

“Jessica,” he said, suddenly tense.

“Relax, Mike. What’s she going to do, eat you?”

“She might.”

Mike had never quite shaken his fear of Jessica Pearson. She was a formidable lady who had finally accepted that Mike might bring some value to the firm, but she might not approve of him being with Harvey. Not that she ever interfered in Harvey’s personal life, but this was different. It was a good thing that he’d already proved himself to her. At least she couldn’t accuse him of sleeping his way into the job….

“Mike, stop thinking so loud. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Mike did not agree with that assessment, but as Jessica had already come up to them, there was nothing he could say.

She stared at them for a moment, eyebrows raised. They were still holding hands.

“Is this what it looks like?” she said.

“Yes.”

“How long has this been going on?”

“About a year now.”

Her eyebrows rose in surprise.

“You’ve been in a relationship for a year?” Her disbelief was obvious.

“Eleven months and twenty days,” Mike said, before he could stop himself.

Harvey was inordinately pleased by that.

“You’ve been keeping count?” he said looking smug.

“Um…yeah."

“So have I, actually. I know our anniversary is coming up,” Harvey said, turning to look at Mike with a fond smile on his face. That seemed to throw Jessica a bit.

“Harvey, you know this is irregular,” she said.

“Not if it is a serious relationship, Jessica.”

“And this is serious?”

“I told you, we’ve been together almost a year and we intend to stay together for the rest of our lives.”

For the rest of our lives? Mike was stunned. He knew they were serious about each other but they hadn’t said anything about that kind of commitment. Did Harvey really want that or was that a figure of speech?

Jessica was every bit as surprised as Mike. “Are you telling me you’re engaged?”

“Not yet, but it’ll happen soon.”

“Harvey?” Mike said, unable to keep quiet any longer.

“Didn’t mean to blurt that out. Sorry, Mike,” Harvey said, looking a bit sheepish. “I was going to surprise you.”

Mike couldn’t help the fond smile that took over his face. Jessica or not, this was a special moment. “It’s okay. I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear anything.”

They held each others eyes for a moment before they turned back to face Jessica. Her gaze had softened somewhat.

“Well, Mike, it seems you are even more remarkable than I had thought,” she said. “And since it seems that there is no chance that there will be any charges of sexual harassment that I have to worry about, I will let you go. Have fun. Just make sure you file the appropriate paper-work with HR.”

“Done. Thank you, Jessica,” Harvey said, smooth as ever.

She nodded and left. Mike was relieved, but he was thinking about more important things than Jessica at the moment.

“For the rest of our lives, huh?” he said softly as he turned to look at Harvey.

Harvey coloured a bit. “You said you were going to forget about it."

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist. I’m just really happy.”

“Well, so am I,” Harvey said and then he pulled Mike to him and kissed him softly. It was a very chaste kiss, but it was sweet and tender and it made Mike feel as if his heart was bursting. It was also a declaration of intent towards each other and the clearest announcement of their relationship that they could possibly have made.

**…**

Louis found them at the bar later. He glared at Harvey and said, “I hope you know that you are a very lucky man.”

“I do, Louis. I really do.”

“Good. Because Mike here, is really special. I have no idea why he wants a bastard like you, but he does. You better make him happy, Harvey.”

“I will, I promise,” Harvey said.

Louis threw another glare at him and left.

“That’s the fourth time this evening that I’ve been warned not to hurt you. Why does everyone assume that I will?” Harvey said, trying to sound indignant and not quite pulling it off.

“Probably because it is so obvious that I’m crazy about you.”

“I’m crazy about you too.”

“I know that, but you’ve spent so many years pretending to be the guy who doesn’t care about anyone that they’re having hard time believing that you’re serious about me.”

“But I am.”

“And I know that. Soon they’ll know it too. In the meantime, expect another shovel talk,” Mike said indicating Rachel who was approaching them.

Harvey groaned and then he got up and walked away, making up an excuse about having to see Donna about something.

Rachel watched him go and then she sat down beside Mike. “Well?” she said.

“Well what?”

“You can’t spring something like this on me without an explanation. I mean, when? How? I need details, Mike.”

“Fine. How much of the gossip have you heard?”

“Donna said you’ve been with Harvey for a year. I’m assuming she knows what she’s talking about…”

“But you have trouble believing it.”

“Yeah…I didn’t even know that Harvey was into guys and you know the kind of reputation he has.”

“I do. Harvey Specter is a man who does not get involved. Sounds ridiculous now.”

“So what happened?”

Mike took a deep breath. He hadn’t told anyone about his relationship with Harvey until now. Donna knew of course, but then she knew everything. How had he and Harvey ended up together? It had just been so natural and seamless, it was hard to think about it in terms of who said what when and who did what.

“Mike?”

“Just wondering where to start.”

“From the beginning, of course. Let me see, when did you fall for him?”

“I fell for him right away. I mean how could I not? He’s so unfairly good looking and that kind of confidence, it’s a real turn on…” Mike trailed off as his eyes wandered towards Harvey again.

“You really have it bad huh?”

Mike blushed and ducked his head. “Anyway, I figured he’d never be interested in me, so I kept it to myself.”

“And you tried to date me and Jenny, but I guess you couldn’t get him out of your head.”

“Yeah. It started as a crush, but I fell in love with him and I didn’t know what to do other than keep my head down and work like a crazy person. So I did. I stopped trying to date and to have a life of any kind. And…it was tough for a while. Particularly after Gram passed away.”

Rachel’s face scrunched up in sympathy. “You poor thing,” she said as she put her hand on his arm and gave it a little squeeze.

“I was getting more and more stuck inside my own head and I was so damn lonely. And somehow, Harvey noticed. I was not off my game in any way. My work was as good as ever. I was just quieter and not so inclined to laugh and joke with him as I used to be and he noticed. So he took me home with him one Friday night under the pretext of work. And once we got there he ordered dinner and brought out some wine and…slowly got me to talk.”

“That is so sweet.”

“It was. All that stuff he’s always saying about not caring? It’s a lot of bullshit.”

“So what happened? Did you tell him?”

“No. I talked to him, though. I told him how hard I was trying and how badly I wanted to impress him with my work. I told him about the stress and the lack of sleep and the loneliness. He listened and then he told me that he wanted me to take the next four days off and just sleep if nothing else.”

“All this happened over dinner?”

“Dinner and lots of wine.”

“That does not sound like him at all.”

“He was very nice to me that night. It was the last thing I expected. We finished dinner and then he suggested that we watch a movie. I fell asleep half-way through and he just let me sleep. I ended up staying the night and all of the next day as well. I expected him to get bored and ask me to leave, but he didn’t. In fact, he insisted that I stay every time I suggested leaving. We spent the whole day talking. He told me about his childhood and his days at Harvard and his early days at Pearson-Hardman…it was nice. It was like hanging out with a friend.”

“He invited me over the next weekend as well and we watched movies and we cooked and we talked and it was so much fun. After that it just became a habit to spend my weekends at his place. We worked if we had to, but once we left the office, we were friends. I kept expecting it to end. I kept thinking that sooner or later Harvey would have a date and he wouldn’t have time for me, even if it was only for one weekend, but it didn’t happen. He was always there for me. Somehow, he always had the time.”

Rachel was listening to him with a soft smile on her face.

“He knew I needed a friend and he was trying to be one. I don’t think he realises how incredibly generous that was,” looking over at Harvey again.

“Maybe he needed a friend too.”

“He did and he wanted me because, according to him, I challenge him the way no one else ever has. That’s true for me too. So we became friends and we started spending more and more time together and soon it was weeknights as well and…we just fell into a relationship, I think. Before we kissed even. It just happened. And then one Saturday he asked me if I’d go out on a date with him. Apparently, he’d been wanting to ask me for a while. So we went and it was like any other of the thousand dinners we’d had already. Only difference was that I got to kiss him at the end of the night. And that was it, really.”

“Wow, that’s such a romantic story. Didn’t you worry though that once you started dating, it might all just go wrong?”

“Oh I worried alright. I worried about not being good enough, I worried about Harvey getting bored of me…somehow he always knew when I was getting insecure and he took care of it. He made me see that I had nothing at all to worry about. And then he told me that he hadn’t been with anyone since that first night that he’d taken me home and made me talk to him. He hadn’t wanted to be with anyone else, not even Dana. I couldn’t very well be insecure after that.”

“So you live together now?”

“Yeah, I moved in almost a year ago.”

“So your anniversary is coming up soon, huh?”

“Yeah. I think he’s planning something for it,” Mike said, glancing over at Harvey again. He’d finished dancing and he was heading over in their direction. He was smiling, but there was a question there as well, like he was wondering what Mike and Rachel had been talking about.

“I take it he’s the jealous kind,” Rachel said as he withdrew her hand. Mike realised only then that her hand had been resting on his arm the whole time.

“He’ll never admit it, but yeah, he’s possessive.”

“Then I guess I’d better scram. I’ll see you at work,” Rachel said and then she nodded to Harvey and left.

“What were you guys talking about?” Harvey said as soon as he sat down.

“She wanted to know how we got together.”

“I guess everyone wants to know that. I’m amazed at the number of people who can’t believe that I’m actually settling down with someone.”

“You can’t blame them. You have quite a reputation.”

“Yeah, but I haven’t dated anyone for a year and a half now.”

“That’s not true. You brought Dana to the Christmas party last year.”

“That was simply because she happened to be around and you and I weren’t together yet and maybe I was trying to make you a bit jealous and see if you’d react at all.”

“Why?”

“Because I couldn’t figure out whether you were interested in me or not.”

“Hmmm…I tried not to react and I think I could’ve managed it if you’d brought someone else, but seeing you with her was like a knife through the heart. I assumed that you’d go back to your condo and have sex with her and that just killed me. I’d told myself so many times that you would never be interested in me and I was mostly okay with it, but I just couldn’t handle it that night. Not after we’d become such good friends…”

“I saw you leave and I wanted to come after you, but Jessica was dragging me off to meet a new client and couldn’t very well leave and by the time I was free you were long gone. I can’t tell you how guilty I felt when you sent me that sms telling me that you were going to be out of town for a week.”

“And I felt so stupid. I came back and I expected you to be angry, but you weren’t at all. In fact the first thing you said was that you wished you hadn’t brought Dana to the Christmas party. And then you told me that you hadn’t slept with her.”

“You looked so relieved when I told you that. It gave me the push to finally ask you out.”

“And here we are with our one year anniversary coming up. Still feels a bit surreal sometimes,” Mike said as he reached for Harvey’s hand.

Harvey leaned in and kissed him softly.

“I think we’ve stuck around long enough. What say we go home? I’ve been dying to get you out of that suit all evening.”

Mike stood up and tugged on Harvey’s hand. “Let’s go.”

...

A couple of hours later, Mike was lying in bed, wrapped up in Harvey's arms, feeling sated and content and just so happy. He reached up and kissed Harvey softly. "Thank you," he said.

"What for?"

"Everything. It's just...telling Rachel about us today, it reminded me of how lonely and miserable I was until you brought me home that night and talked to me and tried to be my friend. I never imagined that you'd actually fall in love with me."

"How could I not? You're such an amazing person. I liked you from the beginning, but I was trying to keep a professional distance. And then I saw how miserable you were and I tried to help, because that's what I do. But you don't realise how much you helped me. I was lonely too, you know and I selfish and not a particularly nice person. You made me care and you changed me. I'm a better person because of you."

They stared at each other for a moment and then they fell into a kiss. It slow and languid and achingly sweet. Harvey pulled away slowly. "i wanted to do this on our anniversary, but I don't think I can wait any longer," he said. He reached into the bottom drawer of the night stand and pulled out a small black box. It had two platinum rings in it.

"Marry me?" he said.

"Yes, absolutely, yes."


End file.
